Experts In Your Home Blog

The threat of wildfires is on everyone's mind in Northern California these days. After the tragic and destructive Carr and Camp Fires that swept through the North State in 2018, there is no doubt this is a serious issue.

One question on many people's minds is "can I do anything to protect my home during a fire?" While conditions surrounding a fire will vary, and there's no guarantee of 100% protection - there are things you can do to harden your home against embers, which can cause a fire on your property even if you are far away from the flames.

There's no more important thing to think about for your home than the safety of you and your loved ones. When it comes to electrical safety, you shouldn't mess around. Electrical safety hazards can be potentially life threatening, but the good news is that with proper precautions you can reduce any risk of electrical shock and keep you and your family safe.

At Experts In Your Home, our Chico electricians are only a phone call away if you have questions or would like to have us inspect your home for electrical dangers. In the meantime, here are some tips for electrical safety in your home:

Parents of toddlers often wish they had a dollar for every time they say, “No!” Then again, parents of youngsters, preteens and adolescents probably feel the same way. “No!” is an ageless word that comes part and parcel with parenthood.

Still, this curt, no-nonsense command comes in handy as a toddler is about to chomp on a plugged-in cell phone charger or a youngster with wet hands stands ready to plug in a toaster. As your child's best and most influential teacher, you have much to impart. And electrical safety should be part of your “syllabus.”

But how do you know which concepts to introduce at what age? And what about those concepts? What should they include? Allow Experts in Your Home to shed some light on the subject of electrical safety by beginning with some general tips that can help you every step of the way.

When time is running out and the projects keep adding up, many harried homeowners – and maybe you're one of them – have been heard to mutter, “I can't do everything!”

But many smart homeowners – and you're probably one of them – always seem to make time for tasks and projects that will make their home more secure.

If you do nothing else this weekend or next, put these 10 home security tasks and projects on your “to-do” list, courtesy of Experts in Your Home. If you're pressed for time, issue a call for “all hands on deck” and make it a family project. Either way, you'll breathe easier. You'll sleep easier. And you and your family will be safer, too:

Experts in Your Home tried to cover all the basics in a recent article, “Stay on top of home safety with this list.” But we wanted to go one step further and make sure we covered the full extent of our audience.

Specifically, we know that some older residents in the Chico area have safety in mind – and for good reason: More than one in four people age 65 and older fall each year, though less than half of them tell their doctor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But if you're a homeowner, you probably know that it helps to be “all things” to your house if you want to ensure your family's safety – and avoid breakdowns and costly repairs, too.

It would be nice to fix “all things” at once, but most people don't have unlimited time on their hands. This is why Experts in Your Home has crafted a handy home safety list. You can read it now, save it for later and work your way down it so that, eventually, you will tackle “all things” in your home.

You were in hot pursuit – crawling around on the floor, moving furniture and drapes aside – to find every outlet you could get your hands on to plug in holiday decorations.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover an outlet you didn't expect. But you might have found something else: that your home features many two-slot outlets, also known as ungrounded outlets.

Take your time and put the holiday decorations away. But then make a point to call Experts in Your Home. Those outlets can pose a safety hazard and should be addressed in one of three ways. Since the Experts always try to anticipate your questions, here are some questions you might have about both types of outlets, followed by the answers from our team of licensed electricians:

You already know that home fires are more common during the holidays than at any other time of the year, with about 150 fires causing an astounding $8 million in property damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

You've probably taught your children how to dial 911 in case a fire breaks out in your home, which is always the smartest call to make. But if a small, confined fire were to start in your home, you probably could put it out yourself – as long as you have the proper fire extinguisher and know how to use it.

It’s one of those “anybody can do it” tasks, though not necessarily well or worthy of a Norman Rockwell scene: stringing a Christmas tree with lights.

Since most people decorate only once a year, they seem more inclined to take safety shortcuts in the interest of keeping the task moving along so they can get to "the fun part": hanging the ornaments. But shortcuts involving electricity are always a mistake: Holiday lights trigger about 150 fires a year and cause more than $8 million in property damage, the National Fire Protection Association says.

Since Experts in Your Home want you, too, to become a safety expert in your home, learn how to light up your Christmas tree the right way.